H. B. 4120
(By Delegates Wills, Fleischauer, Givens, Pethtel,
Webster, C. White and Faircloth)
[Introduced January 22, 2002; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.
A BILL to amend article fourteen, chapter eighteen-b of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
ten, relating to credit cards for college students; requiring
registration of persons soliciting applications for credit
cards; requiring students to sign information sheet;
prohibiting promotional incentives; requiring colleges to
offer credit education; prohibiting credit card companies from
obtaining student information; prohibiting colleges from
entering into certain agreements with credit card companies;
making violation a misdemeanor; and providing penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article fourteen, chapter eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten, to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. MISCELLANEOUS.
§18B-14-10. Credit card solicitation on campuses; penalties.
(a) Every person who solicits applications for the issuance of
credit cards on the property of any institution of higher education
must first register with the institution before soliciting students
on campus. Every registration shall include an agreement that the
credit card issuer will not provide an application to a student
unless the student has signed a credit card education information
sheet designed by governing board of the institution.
(b) No person who solicits applications for credit cards may
offer any gifts or any other promotional incentives to students
while on the property of an institution of higher education
.
(c) Every institution of higher education that permits the
solicitation of credit card applications to its students shall
include within its freshman orientation program a seminar regarding
credit and related topics
.
(d) Unless a student's parent or guardian has agreed in
writing to be liable for credit card debts of the student, no
person may initiate a debt collection action against the parent or guardian regarding any credit card debt incurred by the student if
the student or former student applied for the credit card while
enrolled at an institution of higher education and the application
was solicited by the company on the property of the institution.
(e) No person may purchase or otherwise obtain from an
institution of higher education specified information about the
students at the institution of higher education, including student
lists, for the purpose of soliciting applications for credit cards.
(f) No institution of higher education may enter into any
agreement or permit any of its agents or student organizations to
enter into any agreement for the direct merchandising of credit
cards to any students.
(g) Any person who violates any of the provisions of
subsection (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e) of this section is guilty of
a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in an
amount not to exceed five hundred dollars.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to regulate the solicitation
of credit card applications on college campuses.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.